Nevin's Data "Points"

   The solution to the coverage gap lies through small business—but only about a third have been approached in the past year about offering one, according to a new survey. That’s not exactly a new revelation—any number of surveys and government data throughout the years indicates that the vast majority of large(r) employers already offer a workplace retirement plan. [i]  The coverage “gap” so often held out as a sign of “failure” by the critics of the 401(k) lies almost exclusively among smaller employers. Which means that closing it will require a focus on small business—and understanding the “resistance.”   At the outset, it’s worth acknowledging a certain truism about small plans (the kind small businesses set up)—they are sold, not bought. Consequently, it was disappointing to see that datapoint about just 31% of the businesses that do not currently offer a plan having been approached in the last 12 months about offering one. [ii]   That survey finding ...

Last week an article in an industry publication led with the title “401(k) experiment has failed, fueled U.S. retirement crisis, labor economist says.” In what I am sure generated a fair number of “clicks” that turned out to be the pronouncement of none other than Professor Teresa Ghilarducci, teeing up a new book [i] —one that she says aims to review the last 10 years of research by multiple entities on something she’s labeled the “liminal” period of life—that apparently intended to refer to an “intermediate” stage of life. According to the article, she is taking aim at certain assumptions that are made with regard to retirement investing/saving between the ages of 55 and 70. Bad assumptions, apparently. Now, considering that Professor Ghilarducci has written an entire book on this particular subject, extrapolation from a short interview about it (particularly when someone else did the interview) is a hazardous undertaking. But in that article —based on the upcoming ...